is a 1997 fighting game developed and published by Namco. It is the third installment in the Tekken series and the first game built on the Namco System 12 arcade hardware. The game takes place nineteen years after Tekken 2 (1995) and features a largely new cast of characters, including the debut of several staple characters such as Jin Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu and Bryan Fury, and adds a sidestepping ability to every character. Tekken 3 was ported to the PlayStation in 1998 with additional content, including a beat 'em up mode called Tekken Force.

The game was a major hit for both arcades and consoles, selling 35,000 arcade units and 8.36 million PlayStation copies worldwide, making Tekken 3 the fifth best-selling PlayStation game. Since its release, Tekken 3 has been cited as one of the greatest games of all time. It was followed by Tekken Tag Tournament (1999) and its direct sequel, Tekken 4 (2001). Later, Tekken 3<nowiki/>'s arcade version was included within Tekken 5 on PlayStation 2, while the console port was re-released as part of Sony's PlayStation Classic.

Gameplay

left|thumb|Gameplay screenshot of the arcade version depicting [[Nina Williams against the swordsman Yoshimitsu]]

Tekken 3 maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors. Three-dimensional movement is insignificant in previous Tekken games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging maneuvers), but Tekken 3 adds emphasis on the third axis by allowing characters to sidestep in or out of the background. Fighters now jump more reasonable heights than in the previous games, making them less overwhelming and putting more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping can no longer dodge every ground attack. Reversals, introduced for some characters in Tekken 2, were now available to all characters. after the original two Tekken games on System 11. The animation for the combatants was created using motion capture.

The music for Tekken 3 was composed by Nobuyoshi Sano and Keiichi Okabe. Sano, who served as the sound director, took a big beat approach to the music with a slower tempo than the music found in previous games, as this genre had not previously been utilized in games. Game director Katsuhiro Harada initially did not understand the big beat direction, but Sano convinced him that it would work well in the series. During development, a tester criticized the music and wanted the music to resemble Sega's Virtua Fighter; this angered Sano, although the report was dismissed. Okabe also became ill during the music's production.

The game had a limited Japanese release on 28 November 1996. It was followed by a wide international release in March 1997, releasing in North America on 18 March 1997.

PlayStation

The conversion to the PlayStation took eight months, significantly longer than the conversions of Tekken and Tekken 2, due to Tekken 3 being designed for Namco System 12, making it a much more difficult conversion than the previous two games, which were designed for the PlayStation-based Namco System 11. By April 1997, Tekken 3 was popular in the arcades, and the process of its home conversion was considered certain on PlayStation but merely a controversial consideration on Nintendo 64.

Sano and Okabe returned to compose the music for the PlayStation version, with much of the soundtrack being arranged from the arcade's music, along with the addition of several new tracks. Other composers who participated in composing additional music include Hiroyuki Kawada, Minamo Takahashi, Yuu Miyake, Yoshie Arakawa, and Hideki Tobeta. Arakawa had previously composed for the first two Tekken games, while Sano, Okabe and Miyake would go on to work on several future entries in the series, including Tekken Tag Tournament.

As promotion for the PlayStation version, Namco sponsored a Tekken 3 tournament at events in Japan and the U.S., with the Japanese champion and U.S. champion meeting in a final round at E3 1998.

The PlayStation 2 release of Tekken 5 features the arcade version of Tekken 3. PlayStation Port was added to PS Plus and Playstation Network on October 21, 2025, for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Reception

Commercial

The arcade game was a major hit. In Japan, the 15 April 1997 issue of Game Machine listed Tekken 3 as the most-successful arcade game of the month. It went on to be the highest-grossing arcade printed circuit board (PCB) game of 1997 in Japan, and second highest-grossing overall arcade video game below Sega's rival Virtua Fighter 3 (1996). Tekken 3 sold 35,000 arcade units worldwide in 1997, including 15,000 in Japan and 20,000 overseas. While Virtua Fighter 3 was more successful in Japan at the time, Tekken 3 was more successful worldwide.

The PlayStation version was also a major hit. In Japan, the game sold over copies on its first day of release. In May 1998, Sony awarded Tekken 3 a "Platinum Prize" for sales above 1 million units in Japan. According to Weekly Famitsu, Japan bought 1.13 million units of Tekken 3 during the first half of 1998, which made it the country's third-best-selling game for the period. PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported that Tekken 3 sold 1.11 million copies and earned in revenue during 1998 alone. This made it the third-best-selling PlayStation release of the year in the United States.

In Germany, it received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in November 1998 for sales above 100,000 units, with the VUD later raising it to "Platinum" status indicating over 200,000 sales by August 1999. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, it took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above or in the European Union during 1998. Tekken 3 grossed a further €57,209,778 or in Europe during 1999, adding up to over € or grossed in Europe by 1999, and more than across Europe and the United States by 1999.

According to Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken 3 sold 8.36&nbsp;million copies during its initial release on the original PlayStation, including in Japan and overseas.

Critical

According to Metacritic, the game has a score of 96 out of 100, indicating universal acclaim, As of April 2011, the game is listed as the twelfth-highest-rated game of all time on the review compiling site GameRankings with an average rating of 96%. GamePro gave it a 4.5 out of 5 for graphics and sound and a 5.0 for control and funfactor. While noting that it was visually not up with its competitor Virtua Fighter 3, the reviewer said it was stunning in its own right and features phenomenally responsive and easy controls. The game was a runner-up for "Arcade Game of the Year" (behind NFL Blitz) at Electronic Gaming Monthlys 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.

Tekken 3 became the first game in three years to receive a 10 from a reviewer from Electronic Gaming Monthly, with three of the four reviewers giving it the highest possible score. Tekken 3 is the first game to have scored a 10 under EGMs revised review scale in that a game no longer needed to be "perfect" to receive a 10, and the last game to receive a 10 from the magazine was Sonic & Knuckles. The only holdout was the magazine's enigmatic fighting-game review guru, Sushi-X, who said that "no game that rewards newbies for button-mashing will ever be tops in my book", giving the game 9 out of 10. GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann gave the game a 9.9 out of 10, saying "Not much stands between Tekken 3 and a perfect 10 score. If the PlayStation exclusive characters were better and Force mode a bit more enthralling, it could have come closer to a perfect score." He also praised the sound effects, music, and graphics.

According to PlayStation: The Official Magazine in 2009, Tekken 3 "is still widely considered one of the finest fighting games of all time". In September 2004, for the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation brand, it ranked No. 10 on the magazine's list of "Final PlayStation Top 10". It was also No. 177 on Game Informers 2009 Top 200 games of all time.

In 2011, Complex ranked it as the fourth best fighting game of all time. Complex also ranked Tekken 3 as the ninth best arcade video game of the 1990s, commenting that "this now classic fighter served as a welcome palette cleanser to the Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter dichotomy that dominated arcades in the 90s." Complex also ranked Tekken 3 as the eighth best PlayStation 1 video game, commenting, "When Tekken 3 finally moved from our local arcade and into our living room, we knew nothing would ever be the same. With an assortment of attacks and combos to learn, along with good controls, graphics, and sound, Tekken 3 was much more polished and smooth than its predecessors."

Tekken 3 has also been listed among the best video games of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1997, Game Informer in 1999, Computer and Video Games in 2000, GameFAQs in 2005, and Edge in 2007. ArcadeSushi ranked Tekken 3 as the "20th Best Playstation Game", with comments "Tekken 3 changed everything. Friends became bitter rivals. Bitter rivals became even more bitter rivals. Tekken 3 was the game you played with friends you didn't want to be your friends anymore." Chris Lyon, from Haydock the Tekken 3 World Champion player of 1998 - 2003, also ranked it as the "17th best fighting game", commenting, "Tekken 3 was easily one of the best Tekken games ever created. Before the series became obsessed with wall splats and ground bounds, it simply had huge open 3D arenas with massive casts that may or may not have included boxing raptors." In 2015, GamesRadar ranked Tekken 3 as the 59th best game of all time, stating that "it possesses one of the finest fighting systems ever, the series' well-known juggle formula percolated into a perfect storm of throws, strikes, and suplexes."

References

Further reading

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